Cabinet drawer rollers and method of mounting same

ABSTRACT

A pair of roller assemblies for supporting a drawer on the crossrail of a cabinet includes right and left-hand roller brackets which are manufactured as a unitary assembly held together by a frangible web. When mounting the roller assemblies in the cabinet, first one bracket is secured to the crossrail and then the other bracket is broken loose from the mounted bracket along the web and thus is freed for mounting on the crossrail.

United States Patent 1191 Bildahl Nov. 26, 1974 'CABINET DRAWER ROLLERS AND METHOD OF MOUNTING SAME Richard L. 1111mm, Rockford, 111..

Assignee: Amerock Corporation, Rockford, 111.

Filed: May 2, 1972 A pr o.1 249,700

Inventor:

206/56 AB, 46 H; 301/63 PW; 312/341, 343, 344, 346, 347, 342

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,559,802 2/1971 Eidus ..16/18 Primary Examiner-Paul R. Gilliam 7 Assistant ExaminerDoris L. Troutman Attorney, Agent, or FirmWolfe, Hubbard, Leydig, Voit & Osann, Ltd.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A pair of roller assemblies for supporting a drawer on the-crossrail of a cabinet includes right and left-hand roller brackets which are manufactured as a unitary assembly held together by a frangible web. When mounting the roller assemblies in the cabinet, first one bracket is secured to the crossrail and then the other bracket is broken loose from the mounted bracket along the web and thus is freed for mounting on the crossrail.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures I CABINET DRAWER ROLLERS AND METHOD OF MOUNTING SAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to roller assemblies such as may be used in a cabinet to support a drawer for rolling in and out of the cabinet. More particularly,

the invention relates to right and left-hand roller assemblies which are mounted by brackets at opposite ends of a crossrail to support the drawer for rolling above the crossrail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The general aim of the present invention is to provide a novel assembly comprising a pair of roller assemblies of the above general character which is less expensive to produce and may be installed more rapidly than prior pairs of assemblies of the same general type. More particularly, the primary object of this invention is to provide an roller assembly which in comparison with prior roller assemblies requires fewer steps for installation on the cabinet and thus substantially reduces the time and effort required for installation.

A more detailed object is to accomplish the foregoing through the provision of an assembly in which the two roller assemblies are constructed as a unitary piece mediate step in the installation procedure. With this unique construction, ,both roller assemblies may be picked up in one motion and, after the first bracket is mounted on one 'end of the crossrail, the second bracket can be broken loose from the first bracket along the web and quickly installed on the other end of the crossrail.

Further, from the manufacturers and suppliers standpoint, the invention insures a balance of left and right-hand rollers.

.These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with'the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a drawer mounted in a cabinet and supported on a roller assem-' bly embodying the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the roller assembly shown during an intermediate step of installation.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 2. e

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION or THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration,

the present invention is embodied in a pair of roller assemblies 10 used to support a drawer 11 for rolling in acabinet 13. Typically, the drawer rolls in and out of the cabinet through an opening 14 in the front wall 15 of the cabinet. A guide roller 16 secured to the back of the drawer rides within a channel 17 thereby supporting the back end of the drawer. At the front of the cabinet, a crossrail 19 spans the bottomof the opening and the two roller assemblies are attached adjacent opposite ends of the crossrail to support the drawer to roll above the crossrail. The guide channel is fastened at its forward end to the crossrail and at its rearward end to the backwall 20 of the cabinet. Upper and lower walls 21 in the channel are separated by a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the guide roller with the lower wall normally providing vertical support for the drawer. When the drawer is extended out of the cabinet, the upper wall blocks the guide roller from moving upwardly and thereby prevents the drawer from tipping about the roller assemblies.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,- the exemplary embodiment employs right and left-hand roller assemblies 10a and 10b respectively to support the right and left-hand sides of the drawer 11. Since the assemblies are simply mirror images of each other, hereinafter only one of the assemblies will be described in detail with the understanding that such description applies equally well to both the right and left-hand roller assemblies unless horizontal upper leg 26 having one end integrally joined with a depending vertical leg 27. As shown in FIG. 2, the horizontal leg includes several openings 29 for receiving fasteners such as screws of staples to secure the bracket on the crossrail 19. Typically, the bracket is positioned adjacent one end of the crossrail with the horizontal leg fastened to the upper surface 30 of the crossrail and with the vertical leg abutting the inner surface 31 of the crossrail.

Integrally formed with the vertical leg 27 is a pair of l parallel arms 33 which extend outwardly therefrom at right angles away from the upper leg 26 and toward the backwall 20 of the cabinet 13. The roller 24 is journaled between the arms on a pin 34 defining a substantially horizontal axis. The roller may be formed of molded nylon andincludes a circumferential flange 35 extending radially outwardly from one side thereof. In the left-hand one of the roller assemblies 10b, the flange 35 is formed on the left-hand side of the roller and, similarly, the flange of the right-hand one of the assemblies 10a is formed on the right-hand side of the roller. When the two roller assemblies are installed on the crossrail 19, the flanges together serve as guides extending upwardly along opposite sides of the drawer to prevent the drawer from moving sideways in the cabinet while the bottom of the drawer rides on top of the rollers.

' In accordance with the primary aspect of the present invention, the two roller assemblies 10a and 10b are connected together in a novel manner to form a unitary assembly 36 and thereby enable the two roller assemblies to be installed in the cabinet 13 muchmore quickly and with less effort than was possible heretofore. For these purposes, the assemblies are connected together by a frangible web 37 which when broken separates the assembly into the two roller assemblies for mounting in the cabinet. Time and effort is saved when installing the assemblies by installing one of the assemblies before the web is broken. In this way, the steps normally required to install the separate roller assemblies are reduced substantially and, as a consequence, so is the amount of time required for installation of the assemblies.

In the present instance, the two roller brackets 23 are stamped out of the same piece of sheet metal as a single unit with the web 37 joining the brackets together. One advantage in the stamping out the brackets together as one piece is a savings in production costs since the right and left-hand roller assemblies a and 10b can be processed as one part. In addition, the inventories of the assemblies always remain balanced since the right and left-hand roller assemblies are produced in equal numbers.

Preferably, the web 37 is formed as an incident to the stamping out process by crimping the metal between the two brackets 23 to produce a V-shaped crease 39. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the crease laterally bisects the piece of metal forming the two brackets and includes two sides 40 which diverge from each other upon progressing upwardly from below the upper surfaces of the brackets. More particularly, the sides intersect each other at an included angle a of about (90) to form the bottom of the crease at a depth approximately equal to one-third (1/3) of the thickness of the brackets. With this arrangement, the brackets can be bent toward each other through a relative arc of approximately 90 before the sides 40 engage each other closing the crease. It has been found that this degree of relative bending is more than sufficient to snap the web 37 and thereby free the brackets from each other.

One series of steps that may be followed to install the roller assemblies 10a and 10b in the cabinet 13 begins by picking up the unitary roller assembly 36 such as with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand grasping the arms 33 and around the roller 24 of the right-hand roller bracket 23. This leaves the left-hand roller bracket extending away from the hand for insertion into the cabinet through the opening 14. Once inserted, the left-hand bracket may be pulled back with the vertical leg 27 engaging the inner surface 31 of the crosspiece 19 to position the upper leg 26 and the openings 29 on the upper surface adjacent the left end of the crosspiece. By holding around the right-hand bracket in this fashion, the left-hand and fingers are positioned conveniently out-of-the-way to enable the left-hand bracket to be stapled or otherwise easily fastened to the crosspiece.

Once the left-hand bracket 23 is fastened in position, the right-hand bracket may be snapped loose simply by pulling upwardly on the assembly 36 with the left-hand. Then, while still holding the arms 33 with the left-hand, the right-hand bracket may be positioned on the righthand end of the crosspiece 19 by inserting the left-hand into the cabinet and turning the bracket to face the roller 24 rearwardly so that the vertical leg 27 faces toward the inner surface 31 of the crosspiece. Thereafter, while pushing the vertical leg against the crosspiece, the upper leg 26 can be stapled through the openings 29 to secure the right-hand bracket against the upper surface of the crosspiece.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the unitary roller assembly 36 of the present invention can be installed in the cabinet 13 much more quickly and with less effort than prior arrangements because fewer steps are required to install both roller assemblies 10a and 10b. Only one motion is required to pick up both roller assemblies and both assemblies can be held easily in one hand out-of-the-way of each other. Moreover, in the exemplary embodiment wasted motion is eliminated by avoiding having to pick up the right-hand one of the roller assemblies after stapling'the left-hand one of the roller assemblies to the'crossrail 19 since the right-hand bracket 23 is in hand and may may be freed for installation simply by snapping the web 37. Thus for instance, with one hand holding a stapler and the other hand holding the roller assemblies, both hands may be kept constantly busy so that the assemblies can be installed in a much shorter period of time.

I claim as my invention:

1. A pair of roller assemblies for supporting a drawer on the crossrail of a cabinet including a right-hand bracket with an inverted, generally L-shaped body having a substantially horizontal leg with a vertical leg joined integrally with one end of said horizontal leg, a

pair of parallel arms integrally connected with said vertical leg and extending outwardly therefrom beyond the one end of said horizontal leg, a left-hand bracket constructed substantially as a mirror image of said righthand bracket, a roller journaled between the arms of each of said brackets to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis, and a frangible web normally connecting the free ends of the horizontal legs of each of said brackets to hold said brackets together in a unitary assembly to be broken apart along said web to separate the brackets for mounting at opposite ends of the cross- 

1. A pair of roller assemblies for supporting a draweR on the crossrail of a cabinet including a right-hand bracket with an inverted, generally L-shaped body having a substantially horizontal leg with a vertical leg joined integrally with one end of said horizontal leg, a pair of parallel arms integrally connected with said vertical leg and extending outwardly therefrom beyond the one end of said horizontal leg, a left-hand bracket constructed substantially as a mirror image of said right-hand bracket, a roller journaled between the arms of each of said brackets to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis, and a frangible web normally connecting the free ends of the horizontal legs of each of said brackets to hold said brackets together in a unitary assembly to be broken apart along said web to separate the brackets for mounting at opposite ends of the crossrail. 